Demi Lovato has made her most loyal fans extremely happy. For those who loved her albums Don’t Forget, and Here We Go Again, which were released in the mid-2000s and written during her years on the Disney channel, prepare to rejoice. Rock and roll Demi is back. HOLY FVCK is an absolute banger and a stark departure from her previously pop-dominated albums. This album delves into Demi’s most vulnerable moments without a filter and explores a new gritty rock sound with poetic lyrics that expose her truth about addiction, loss, and predatory relationships. On the new LP, tracks such as “Eat Me” featuring Royal & The Serpent establish a critique of the entertainment industry and consumption of celebrity figures. Lyrics such as, “you’ll have to eat me as I am” and “choke on it” beautifully describe her proliferation of personal championship and resistance to conform to norms previously imposed on the singer.
In an interview with Vogue about the new gritty album, Lovato states “What I learned about myself making this record is that it’s okay to own your truth,” Lovato says. “I wanted to take my power back.” Suggesting this particular album represents an embrace of her authentic self. Lovato recently came out as non-binary, using she/they pronouns.
Most strikingly, Lovato recently acknowledged an inappropriate past relationship she had with an older man when she was still a minor. Her song, “29,” perhaps alludes to the circulating questions about her relationship with Wilmer Valderrama, a man twelve years her senior when they were together. In this song, Lovato sings that she is “finally 29, funny just like you were at the time.” This particular line is delivered hauntingly with strong electric guitar accompaniment, an intensity that matches the seriousness of each word. She states simply within the song, “17 29,” to showcase the extreme difference in age that needs no further explanation. This song, hopefully, will bring many survivors solace and perpetrators a reason to not sleep at night.
Other songs on the album include very personal subjects such as her battles with drug addiction, particularly in the song “Skin of my Teeth.” Lovato brings to light her recent and very public survival of a drug overdose on July 24th, 2018. In the track, “Skin of my Teeth” she plainly states in the first verse, “Demi leaves rehab again,” coupled with “go easier on me” and “goddamn it I just want to be free but I can’t because it’s a fucking disease.”
This album celebrates individuality, survival, and sexuality, specifically in the track, “FREAK” with artist YUNGBLUD whose vocals give a sultry roughness against Demi’s clear melodic verses that aim to seduce. This album triumphantly salutes the artist’s early Disney-era albums we know and love her for. It’s an incredibly powerful album that says much about her desires to forge her own path, blazed in rock and roll.
Top Photo: Still from YouTube. Demi Lovato – EAT ME feat. Royal & the Serpent (Official Live Performance) | Vevo
